A Free forum to discuss anything and everything about your travels, hotels, airlines, tips, latest travel deals, sports tours or group tours. If you have a passion and enjoy talking about your travels, please share!

Phong Nha-Ke Bang National Park of Central Vietnam located in western Bo Trach district, close to the international border with Laos. The national park is situated in one of the largest areas of contiguous limestone karst in Indochina, which also includes Hin Namno National Protected Area in Laos. The limestone massif is located in a transitional zone between the northern and central Annamite mountains.

The topography of the national park is characterised by precipitous karst ridges, which rise to elevations of around 400 m. Scattered among these ridges are narrow valleys and pockets of igneous rock formations. Because of the limestone topography, drainage is complex and there are few permanent water courses. There are, however, the Chay, Son and Trooc rivers, all of which are fed by underground streams, which emerge from the En, Vom, Toi and Phong Nha cave systems. All three rivers flow into the Gianh river, which empties into the East Sea

Geological processes through the ages have bestowed upon Vietnam large areas of limestone. Phong Nha Ke Bang is representative of such a limestone landscape. Located where the majestic Truong Son range starts, Phong Nha-Ke Bang (Quang Binh province) has within it, numerous inter-linking systems of caves, together with a number of very distinctive underground rivers and streams.According to data collected in a recent field-study conducted by the British Cave Research Association (BCRA), the total length of the Phong Nha - Ke Bang cave system - as surveyed up to 1997, is 64,386m, comprising 17 separate caverns in two distinct systems, both located in Bo Trach district. The Phong Nha system has 9 caves, with a total surveyed length of 33,758m, while the Vom system has 9, with a total length of 30,627m.

The Phong Nha cave itself (which lends its name to the whole system), in Son Trach village, is probably the most beautiful of all the caves in the region. As studied in 1987, it has a length of 7,729m, and at its maximum point, the ceiling height is 83m. The cave contains many fascinating rock formations, enchanting visitors with evocative names such as Lion, Fairy Caves, Royal Court, Buddha…The results of their study have enabled BCRA to publish a number of scientifically valuable works about the region. In comparing Phong Nha with other cave systems of the world in general, and of Vietnam in particular, the organization has commented: “Phong Nha, over a 200,000ha. area, has by far the longest underground rivers, the largest caverns and passageways, the widest and prettiest sand banks, and the most astonishing rock formations.”Nevertheless, Phong Nha - Ke Bang is not famous merely for the marvels of its caves and river, but also for its forests and woods. Research documents from the Institute of Forestry Research have asserted: “The topography of Phong Nha - Ke Bang is a mixture of earth and limestone mountains, with a 90% surface vegetation coverage rate. Of this, 19% by area is occupied by primitive forests, with a huge, and probably unique, biological diversity, containing numerous plants and animals currently listed in the Red Books of protected species of Vietnarn and the world.”Phong Nha - Ke Bang is also home to the Ruc tribe, only a very small number of which now remains. This is a primitive, cave-dwelling community which, up till only very recently, retained a stone-age way of life and a hunter-gatherer existence.After you Vietnam Travel you can traveling to Lao tours very easy.